Thursday, November 20, 2014

Fort Worth Really Is Not A Fifty Shades Of Grey Type Of Town

The last day or two I have been pondering something I have pondered before, that being trying to figure out why it is that those who represent Fort Worth, be it politicians, civic leaders and others, have such a propensity to make claims about Fort Worth which are just plain ridiculous, not grounded in reality or just out and out false.

Mr. Galtex commented on that example, saying "Perplexing to me, too. I think FW has a serious inferiority complex, which is unfortunate because in many ways it's a very pleasant place."

In another blogging, on a similar theme, titled Mr. & Mrs. Galtex Are In Argentina Where They Learned Fort Worth Has America's Top Downtown Mr. Galtex had another on target observation, saying "For the life of me, I've never been able to figure out why the FW locals are not content to simply say they have a nice downtown, a good this, and a swell that, instead of labeling everything with ridiculous superlatives. FW would be even nicer without a chip on its shoulder."

Mr. Galtex is a lifelong Texan who is one of the few people who live in downtown Fort Worth.

I totally agree with what Mr. Galtex is saying, that being that Fort Worth has a perfectly fine downtown, which unfortunately has people who speak for it spouting ridiculous superlatives with which they tout their perfectly ordinary downtown.

A time or two a person or two with limited perception ability has simplified my attitude towards Fort Worth by saying that with me it is Fort Worth bad, Seattle good. The actual fact of the matter is there are only a few downtown's with which I am quite familiar, those being Fort Worth, Dallas, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Sorry Fort Worth, but you come up on the short end of all those big city sticks.

I dealt with the Fort Worth bad, Seattle good thing in a blogging titled On Top Of Mount Tandy Not Really Thinking Fort Worth Bad Seattle Good. Somewhat ironically, that blogging includes a lot of verbiage from the aforementioned Mr.Galtex in which he describes his and Mrs. Galtex's first trip to stay in downtown Seattle where they discovered a downtown accessed by rail from the airport, multiple grocery stores, vertical malls, department stores, a plethora of restaurants, lots of people, way too many Starbucks.

And little litter.

If I remember right it has been twice this year that the downtown Fort Worth propagandists have gone into full bore hype mode claiming Fort Worth was the Top Downtown in America. When I was perplexed by the absurdity of this claim it did not take much scraping off of the layers of nonsense to discover that the awards no one had ever heard of were brought about because some downtown Fort Worth entity submitted totally exaggerated submissions to some self-serving award givers,which proceeded to give out the bogus award without investigating the veracity of the award submission.

In one bizarre instance where Fort Worth's was named Top Downtown in America, by some narrow criteria, the other towns in the Top Ten were also towns most of America knew nothing about. Towns like the one I was born in, Eugene, Oregon, or a town I've lived in, Bellingham, Washington. Both of which, to me, have bigger, more evolved downtown's than Fort Worth's.

So, back to my original subject, as in where does Fort Worth's civic inferiority complex come from that causes it to so embarrassingly over compensate?

I started pondering this, oddly enough, when I watched the trailer for the upcoming movie, Fifty Shades of Grey. I knew this movie was based on some sort of publishing phenomenon which had a couple Texas women suing an Australian woman. I did not know, til watching the trailer, that Fifty Shades of Grey is set in Seattle.

Watching the Fifty Shades of Grey movie trailer, with its swooping views of downtown Seattle, with its skyscrapers, stadiums, Space Needle, waterfront, boats, trees, it suddenly struck me that it is seeing this type thing which must be at the heart of the Fort Worth civic inferiority complex.

I mean, can you imagine any sort of romantic novel being set in Fort Worth, with a movie filmed using Fort Worth scenery? Swooping in from the north the camera would need to avoid the Heritage Park eyesore. Or those Three Bridge Over Nothing under construction.

I have long been perplexed by the animosity towards Dallas I have heard from so many Fort Worth natives. I liked Dallas upon first exposure. Dallas is a town which seems to be wearing its big city pants. Except for when the time comes to build a new football stadium in town, or renovate something like Fair Park.

Dallas has an iconic skyline recognized all over the world due to the fact that a television show called Dallas became a huge hit all over the world. I remember the first time I headed to Dallas on I-30 and realized I was seeing the classic scene from the Dallas opening credits.

Fort Worth being paired with a famous city must be like having a famous sibling, more beautiful, more successful, known all over the world. Of course this might lead to an inferiority complex. And over compensating.

Can you imagine a TV show called Fort Worth? Can you imagine what the opening credits would look like, coming in to town from whatever direction you chose? It would not be pretty.

It's not just 50 Shades of Grey which has Seattle as a setting. A TV show called Grey's Anatomy also is set in Seattle. Many shows and movies have been set in Seattle. Frazier comes to mine, with his big picture window looking out at the Space Needle.

Why does no TV producer choose Fort Worth as the setting for a movie or TV show? That is a question worth pondering. And please do not mention Walker: Texas Ranger to me. That is just embarrassing.

Sleepless in Seattle. Can you imagine Sleepless in Fort Worth? The lack of places to stage scenic scenes would be a killer when one would consider filming a movie in Fort Worth. No beaches, no houseboats, no waterfront, few skyscrapers, no professional sports venues, no iconic structures. Nothing really notable unless, maybe, one is filming a movie about homeless people, then Fort Worth's notorious Homeless People District might be useful.

Now, I realize me saying this type stuff may seem harsh. But, it is reality. A reality Fort Worth needs to collectively face and deal with, instead of playing make believe.

Ask yourself why no movies or TV shows get based in Fort Worth and then ponder what it is other towns have which make them appealing for something like movies or TV shows and you'll go to the heart of why it is totally absurd to try and claim Fort Worth is the Top Downtown in America.

If it were, the town would be on the nation and world's consciousness, like Dallas is.

I truly believe that the bizarre Trinity River Vision Boondoggle is only going to make it worse for Fort Worth, that for the first time ever Fort Worth may find itself on the nation's radar screen. And not in a good way.

Think Boston Big Dig with a Southern Spin.

And now, watch the aforementioned Fifty Shades of Grey Trailer and try and imagine this being Fort Worth and you will realize Fort Worth has a lot of work to do if it wants to actually get anywhere near being the Top Downtown in America. It may be an impossible task....

3 comments:

Fort Worth Film Booster
said...

Fort Worth just needs to get more creative to make a great movie set. 50 Shades in the Twilight- and use some special filtering to leverage the Trinity and the sparkling reflections off the litter along the banks.